Cop Gumbo

Tips for keeping your New Year's resolutions

You don’t have to bite off a whole year. It can be hard to keep overarching, long-term goals in mind when you’re dealing with life’s daily difficulties.

English sculptor and artist Henry Moore once said, “I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.”

Moore was on to something. Think in terms of days, weeks, and months. Do one random act of kindness a day. Look at your last evaluation and find one thing a day to do in the “needs to work on” areas. Add one healthy food a week to your diet. Compliment one support staff a day. Every week, find one thing to thank your kids or spouse for. Try one new exercise a week when you work out.

Write it, Share it, Report it
Recent research shows that if you write your resolutions down, share them with a friend, and agree to weekly reports to that friend, you’re 33 percent more likely to keep them.

Better yet, do this with a resolution buddy. The reports don’t have to add to your paperwork. Share the updates with each other over a Skinny Carmel Macchiato (unless you’re trying to drink less coffee) or a ‘brewski’ (unless, well, you know...).

App Reminders
Enter the digital age. Get an app that will provide you regular reminders of your resolutions. Here are some, even for mobile devices:

“Be the change you want to see.”
James Clear wrote a fine “how to” article on Gandhi’s famous quote on how to actually stick to your goals this year http://jamesclear.com/identity-based-habits .

Take your typical resolutions:

• Lose weight• Exercise more• Eat healthier

Those are all “do” things. An example of being the change you want to see is Joe, who lost 128 pounds in 10 months.

Joe did this not by setting grand goals or making sweeping resolutions but instead by creating a new identity:

“I am the type of person who makes healthy eating decisions and never misses a workout.”

Then he lived his new identity. He didn’t step on a scale for six months. He just put his focus on being the person that makes healthier eating decisions and never misses a workout.

That’s who he was, so it naturally followed that’s what he did.

Help us all out and share your tips in the comments section below.

Have a happy, healthy, safe, new you, New Year.

About the author

As a state and federal prosecutor for over 10 years, Val’s trial work has been seen nationally on
ABC'S PRIMETIME LIVE, Discovery Channel's Justice Files, in USA Today, The National Enquirer and REDBOOK.

Described by Calibre Press as "the indisputable master of entertrainment," Val is now an international law enforcement trainer and writer who appears in person and on TV, radio, video productions, webcasts, newspapers, books and magazines. She has been a regular contributor to a number of law enforcement publications and has been featured in the Calibre Press Online Street Survival Newsletter, Police Chief magazine, The Law Enforcement Trainer magazine, and The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Gazette.